Golf tip: How to straighten out that slice

Golf tip – One of the more deflating things a golfer can go through during a round is watching shot after shot sail off to the right.

The dreaded slice. According to Frank Dully, PGA head professional at Kernwood Country Club in Salem for the last 20 years, two major things that cause the ball to slice are an open club face and an incorrect swing path. He offered up a couple ways to try to straighten out the slice.

Dully said that one reason for the shot happens before the player even starts to swing.

“A lot of times people don’t put their hands properly onto the club, and that can lead to the slicing issue right off the bat,” he said. “The one thing I always recommend is simply getting your palms to face one another, and when you go to grip the club, if your palms are at least facing one another — and then maybe turn the top hand a little bit to the right — that will help keep that clubface square and not be so open at impact.”

When it comes to the actual swing, everything begins with a proper stance, according to Dully.

He likened the posture to sitting on a barstool with the player’s body weight centered over the feet.

“What happens when people slice, inevitably they end up, what we call, ‘bellying the golf ball,’ and they come in and sort of lose that posture. And once you lose that posture that changes the path of the swing,” said Dully, who won the Skip Wogan Player of the Year Award in 2006 from the New England PGA. “Obviously, a slice you’re coming outside and across the intended target line, so anything you can do to get a more of a baseball-type swing, a little more round, a little more arcing swing, into the target, will help you draw the ball or prevent the slice.”

Those two tips should lead to more fairways and greens and fewer trips into the rough and hazards.